Caterpillar, lost

SEPTEMBER 9, 2010 9:14 p.m. (0)

Caterpillar’s decision to build a new plant in North Carolina, rejecting Spartanburg and Montgomery, Ala., is causing angst and puzzlement across the Upstate.

“I’ve had more people talk to me about Caterpillar and the loss of them than any other project in 20 years, going back to when we recruited BMW,” said H. David Britt, vice chairman of Spartanburg County Council and chairman of the economic recruitment and development committee.  Continue reading...

 

Start-up delayed

Electric car company pushes launch to December

SEPTEMBER 27, 2010 2:20 p.m. (0)

The delay in startup of electric cars in Duncan will not affect the company’s state and local incentives package, but it will push back hiring at the facility, a company spokesman said this week.

If there are no more delays, the plant could be up and running in three to six months.

Curt Westlake, spokesman for CT&T in the company’s Atlanta office, said the delay was caused by the need to complete the distribution network.  Continue reading...

 

Clothed for business

South Carolina company weaves conservation into new clothing line

OCTOBER 14, 2010 11:12 a.m. (0)

Zachery Painter and Sara Raynor grew up as distant in geography and lifestyle as the Upstate and the Lowcountry, but share the dedication to preserving the respective identifies of the soft textile industry in the Upstate and the Loggerhead Sea Turtle in the Lowcountry.

In their 20s and engaged to be married, they are taking their principles into business, establishing the Loggerhead Apparel Co. to make quality clothing in South Carolina and help textiles and the loggerhead from “going extinct here.”

Their inaugural product is a South Carolina-made pima cotton polo shirt with a loggerhead logo.  Their first run of 2,500 “is just to give us some experience before Christmas and then we can look at some additional colors and follow up with a run to get ready for spring.”  Continue reading...

 

It's what's on the menu

Greer company capitalizes on what makes a menu appetizing

NOVEMBER 19, 2010 12:21 p.m. (0)

Pete Glennon makes a living recognizing a good niche, figuring ways to do it more efficiently than anyone else, staying technologically current and anticipating the next thing.

Walter Ezell makes a living making food look good on menus and making menus make money for restaurants.  It’s the kind of niche business run with a passion that Glennon admired.

Last month, Glennon acquired Ezell’s company, Menu Works, and moved Ezell and his team into CBS Distribution’s facility in a plain vanilla leased building on Sunbelt Business Park Drive in Greer. The combined operation employs 27 people.  Continue reading...

 

Clothed for success

Delta Apparel makes a niche in the business of what to wear

JANUARY 27, 2011 3:59 p.m. (0)

You can’t beat this for brand loyalty: The young women who wear colorful Soffe shorts for, say, cheerleading or jogging like to wear them with the waistband turned over to display the label.

Delta Apparel, the Greenville company that makes M.J. Soffe sportswear and other popular active wear, saw a good thing and did the logical.

“We ship them that way now,” said Robert Humphreys, chairman and chief executive officer.  Continue reading...

 

Industrial age

The supply of available factory space is dwindling here

MAY 23, 2011 12:49 p.m. (0)

With acquisition of the Sara Lee plant, Amy’s Kitchen took a prime industrial property off the Upstate’s for-sale inventory of large plants.

That’s the good news. The bad news is availability of industrial buildings is growing thin, putting the area at a competitive disadvantage in competing for new manufacturers.

With construction of spec buildings at a 30-year low, the supply is not being replenished.  Continue reading...

 

The State of Science

How South Carolina is finding its groove in the world of biotech

AUGUST 14, 2011 8:43 a.m. (0)

South Carolina is no longer seen as a flyover state for venture capitalists looking for investments as they shuttle between Atlanta and Research Triangle Park outside of Raleigh.

But there are issues that remain, especially for the state’s up and coming life sciences sector, chiefly in finding the kind of capital they need to bridge the gap between spunky startup companies with a commercially viable idea and full-fledged manufacturers.

“That’s where the biggest challenges lie,” said Steve Johnson president of Greenville’s CreatiVasc, which makes devices for kidney dialysis patients that are designed to improve the quality of life.  Continue reading...

 

Fiber Options

This Upstate company is turning bottles into seats

JANUARY 5, 2012 1:33 p.m. (0)

Ford may sell fewer than 10,000 of its new Focus all-electric sedans this year, but the car’s seat covers made entirely from recycled materials represents a major coup for Upstate’s Sage Automotive Interiors.

With just two years as a stand-alone company but decades of environmentally friendly DNA from Milliken Co., Sage is positioned as the industry leader in using recycled materials for seat cloth for cars and trucks.

The Focus EV’s seat covers originate with waste polyester from Sage’s Avalon plant in Toccoa, Ga. The waste is sent to a Unifi Inc. plant in North Carolina where it is combined with recycled plastic bottles to make REPREVE, a branded synthetic.  Continue reading...

 

S.C. exports on the rise

Automobile exports led all industries

MARCH 1, 2012 12:35 p.m. (0)

South Carolina’s exports increased 21.4 percent in 2011 to a total value of $24.6 billion of goods shipped to 198 countries, the South Carolina Department of Commerce reports.

Contributing to the increase were exporters in the Upstate, chiefly BMW, Michelin and GM.  BMW, which exports 70 percent of its output of more than 260,000 vehicles a year from its Spartanburg plant, is the nation’s largest exporter to non-NAFTA countries.

Automobile exports led all industries in increasing exports by 52 percent. With an increase of 36 percent, Germany replaced Canada as the state’s top export destination, a not-surprising shift since so many BMW cars produced here are shipped to BMW’s home ports in Germany for the European market.  Continue reading...